Jackson County has another top-ranking year of job growth

Last year, businesses in Jackson County announced they would create 1,135 new jobs over the next couple of years — more jobs than were announced in any other county in Georgia last year.

It was such a good year that some might be tempted to write 2011 off as a fluke — except it followed 2010, when Jackson County attracted about 800 new jobs while the unemployment rate around the state hovered at 10 percent.

The foundation for this success is the county’s position on Interstate 85, but there are other towns on the freeway that have not seen nearly as much industrial growth. Geography isn’t the whole story, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Shane Short said.

“Part of it is that there’s a good foundation,” Short said. “We have the infrastructure that helps make us successful in terms of economic development, and that infrastructure was the foresight of people long before (chamber Economic Development Director) Courtney (Bernardi) and I, who saw that in order to attract businesses you have to have a product.”

County commissioners and city councilmembers in towns like Jefferson and Commerce started working in the 1970s to run gas, water and sewer, and electrical lines to areas of the county near I-85. The county and cities’ development authorities have spent the last three decades building a series of roads that run parallel to the interstate, giving large companies access to the land adjacent to the road they wanted to be near.

Short considers establishing that infrastructure as the product development part the equation. The other part is about selling that product and making it easy for businesses to work with local economic development officials.

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce acts as a one-stop-shop for businesses looking to open in unincorporated Jackson County or in any of the county’s nine cities. Chamber officials help guide businesses through the permitting process whether they are in the county or one of the cities, Short said.

Representatives from the local governments — mayors and the commission chairman — sit on the chamber’s Economic Development Council.

“There are members who sit on that council that can make things happen,” Short said.

They help expedite the processes a new businesses has to go through to set up shop in Jackson County.

The chamber also offers assistance in securing state workforce training programs and industrial building developers.

At the chamber, Bernardi has been in charge of selling these perks and has spearheaded the chamber’s marketing efforts for the last two years.

She is now working on two projects that could draw even more jobs to the county than they saw in 2011, Short said.

“Things are very positive for us,” he said. “We’re excited about what could happen in 2012. But in the economic development business, you don’t count your chickens until your eggs hatch and then you wait a while to see how they do.”

Jackson County Chamber of Commerce officials shy from comparisons with other counties who haven’t seen as much success at attracting jobs. Every county’s situation is different, and when one county strikes economic development gold, some of that gold dust is bound to drift over the county line, Bernardi said.

“We are thrilled to have those jobs,” Bernardi said. “For us it’s a regional win ... because it provides jobs not only for Jackson County but also for residents outside of the county who are willing to drive — typically 35 to 45 minutes — to a place of work.

“This year has provided a lot of people with a lot of opportunities that they may not have seen in the last couple of years.”